This is also available on the main page under Strategy, but since the page is mostly a skeleton I think putting it here as well will probably get more attention. This is a weekly article I'd like to do, although it might be bi-weekly until we're live, where we feature one card, and what makes it a great addition to a Card file. I am not nearly as experienced as the Japanese designers and testers however, so I can't guarantee my strategy articles will be perfect, but hopefully they will at least get everyone thinking. Oh, and even though I'm a Lawtia man, I decided to start off with a Refess card. Lawtia next time, I promise.

CARD OF THE WEEK 6/23/08

For my first installment of Card of the Week, I had really been hoping to do Will o’ the Wisp. However, due to some last minute game re-balancing, I decided against it. This week’s pick has everything I look for in a unit card. Simple, one might even say humble, effective, versatile, inexpensive to use, and as a bonus she looks nothing like a Marvel super heroine whose name rhymes with Matlock.

This week’s card is Light Spearwoman. Surprised? She’s not very flashy, but she’s a level three mid-range archer with solid numbers. AGI 2 is my only disappointment, but you can’t have everything and sadly it’s about average for the Refess starter.

First, let’s take a look at her Action Skill, a ranged 45 damage plus DF penetration for 1 SP. Now put her next to Boy Combat Priest and set off Brutal Inquisitor’s Soul Skill. Can you say 65 damage plus DF penetration? I bet there’s a Sea Hunter having nightmares about that right now. For 1 SP, this is some serious punch. Defense penetration is a must for taking out Falkow Card Files, and the damage bonus will play hell with Lawtia units, since they tend to have lower HP. Gowen units are pretty much defense free and have plenty of HP, so her special attack is less useful against them.

Offense is nice, but where Light Spearwoman really shines is survivability. She’s a fully functional archer, so she’s likely to be in the second or third row. Just like it would any archer, this makes her much less likely to be attacked. Why? Simple math. If you have an occupied front row with X units in it, and Light Spearwoman in the second row, the chance of her being hit by an enemy with sufficient range is 1 in 1+X. If he doesn’t have sufficient range, chances are 0. If the enemy wants to attack someone in the front row, he can just use a unit with a RNG of 1, and he has a 100% chance of hitting the front row. If he wants to attack someone in the second row, he will still have X in 1+X of hitting the front row! Therefore, like all archers she will be attacked much less often then other units.

What’s important about this for Light Spearwoman is that she has an impressive 45 HP. It’s highly unlikely that she’ll be taken out in one hit by an enemy archer, since the only one in the Basic Set that can easily do that much damage is… Light Spearwoman herself. Combine this with the fact she doesn’t get hit very often and three copies of her, and you’ll find that she’s an early-mid card that will survive into the end game with no difficulty. You even might have time to heal her in between the moments when your enemy actually lands hits.

When it comes to versatility, you can’t go wrong with her. Since her survivability is good, she’s a candidate for taking the risk and putting out multiple copies. If your enemy doesn’t have any good area effects, You’ll find that multiple Light Spearwoman units can turn almost any enemy force into Swiss Cheese. Another alternate use for her is the front line. Sure, her defense pales in comparison to most other Refess front line fighters, but in emergencies, you could do a lot worse. Her HP isn’t much less than most Lawtia or Falkow front line level 3’s, and her damage is better if you’ve got the SP to spare.

Next time, I promise a card with a lot more flash and huge, crushing numbers… and possibly American flag MC Hammer pants, as well. However, I’m not sure if “Card of the Week” will truly be a weekly feature until the game goes live, so bare with me.

Awesome card review. In the future I would suggest trying to find a way to include a picture of the card your reviewing (or atleast a link to it in the card list) in the review article, if not on the forum posting then at least on the main page, but I understand this is a work in progress so maybe that's why. For those who are interested:http://65.213.94.166/cardDB/detail.php?id=11

As for my opinions on the card itself, and as some one who hasn't actually played the game this is based purely on speculation, its surprisingly heavy for a ranged unit. Generally speaking I think I'd rather have my ranged units be a little lighter in the hp but hit a little harder since their range allows them to be targetted less anyway. This, however, is some what compensated for with that nice ability, the ability to defense pierce and hit for a base 45 is pretty impressive for a level 3. By comparison the highest base damage for a level 3 Refess is only 35 and that comes on a range 1.

Her only competition at the level 3 range 3 or more Refess slot are Rapidshot Magic Archer and Saber Saint / Lapierre, RMAs superior range (5) and based attack (30) might give her a little edge, especially when SP is tight, but she's still comparable, and Lapierre's got a nice row clearing ability but its even more expensive then Light Spearwoman's and has a really low base damage.

Her soul ability is the Refess Lp1 direct damage based one, I've seen this ability featured for every clan. Obviously it works best if your going mono refess, your using high level refess cards, and you set it up as one of your last soul cards, but in that position it does basically give you an automatic kill on any of your opponents units. At level 5 Refess I don't believe theirs a unit in this first set that can survive. Even at only level 3 though, 60 damage is usually going to be enough to nuke or finish off atleast one key unit on your opponents field. Oh and if you don't want to use this card as a soul card cause you want it in your deck the good news is Rapidshot Magic Archer has the exact same soul skill.

The bunnies of Lavato have special abilities, like 'Action Skill: Make Carrot Disappear.'

This card practically saved me when I was demo-ing the game at Akon. She hits hard from the backrow, one-shotting anything my opponent puts out. But it does limit the sp, even one sp can be critical when trying to get bigger units out. There are plenty of heavy units in Refess to sit in front of her too. I do wish she was faster though.

Its units like these that make the game more strategic. Especially the ones that have good speed and hit with a decent attack to keep you from laying cards and using them. I can't begin to describe the hurt the person I played laid on my card losses just using one card that had good range and speed.

alpha428"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done"." -George Carlin

Logress wrote:First, let’s take a look at her Action Skill, a ranged 45 damage plus DF penetration for 1 SP. Now put her next to Boy Combat Priest and set off Brutal Inquisitor’s Soul Skill. Can you say 65 damage plus DF penetration? I bet there’s a Sea Hunter having nightmares about that right now. For 1 SP, this is some serious punch. Defense penetration is a must for taking out Falkow Card Files, and the damage bonus will play heck with Lawtia units, since they tend to have lower HP. Gowen units are pretty much defense free and have plenty of HP, so her special attack is less useful against them.

Either I'm nitpicking or missing something, maybe a little of each but I don't see many Falkow cards that even have defense, Actually there's only 3. oO

Take a look at the skills on the following cards...[card=79]Vordore[/card][card=91]Sorcerer Guard[/card][card=76]Catherina[/card]Notice Sorcerer Guard's power is free. Notice that Catherina's power is cheap and adds DF permanently.I'm sorry, did you say 3 Falkow cards have defense? Because thanks to those cards, ALL of them have defense.

Logress wrote:Take a look at the skills on the following cards...[card=79]Vordore[/card][card=91]Sorcerer Guard[/card][card=76]Catherina[/card]Notice Sorcerer Guard's power is free. Notice that Catherina's power is cheap and adds DF permanently.I'm sorry, did you say 3 Falkow cards have defense? Because thanks to those cards, ALL of them have defense.

Whoa! So add all three to your battlefield, and you get the "Wizard Kingdom castle could last under siege for 100 years" effect.

[misquote="Glossary"] "...However, even Regus is not immune to the threat of Akjeil's cousin within its highest ranks."[/misquote]

"A rabbit made from candy > candy made from a rabbit."-Important Things With Demetri Martin, "Games: Greater than/ Equal to"